When it comes to skincare routines, different products work for different skin types. The fact that many beginners in the skincare game don’t know this (coupled with them taking advice from people who have no idea what they’re talking about) always leads to hilarious, and sometimes, dangerous results. I asked 4 people to tell me the biggest mistakes they made at the beginning of their skincare journey. These are their stories.
*chung chung*
“When I was in secondary school, all my classmates were having puberty-induced pimples. The rest of us who didn’t have it yet were terrified. Someone spread the news that the only way to fight this was by applying a mixture of Nixoderm and Dettol antiseptic liquid on the face every night before bed. This was way before the internet became easily accessible and since we were all in the hostel, we had no way of confirming the validity of this claim. The rest of us who hadn’t gotten pimples yet procured these products and began applying the mixture as instructed. It didn’t take long before it burned our faces. I still have the scars, from the sides of my nose down to the sides of my lips. The worst part? I still got major pimples later.”
“A friend told me that to get rid of my acne, I needed to start exfoliating, explaining that it’s a way to remove dead skin cells so they don’t clog stuff up. Now, while I was willing to do this, I was not willing to spend money. So I bought the strongest bathing sponge I could find at the mallam’s shop close to my house and scrubbed my face super hard whenever I took a shower. My face became dry and my acne got worse. I gave up there. Na acne I get, I no kill person.“
“So there’s an American beauty influencer on YouTube I used to be a huge fan of. In one of her videos, she talked about the benefits of lemon juice on the skin. She swore by it and seeing as her skin was amazing, I didn’t hesitate to try it. It fucked me up. My face turned red and started peeling. For weeks, I refused to leave the house. I went to the comment section of the video and found other people complaining of the terrible effects lemon juice had on their skin. She eventually turned off the comments on the video. I refuse to say her name but there is no way that girl will make heaven.”
“I was using toothpaste to get rid of my pimples. On one hand, it worked because the pimples were drying up. But then, they left red spots on my face. I was torn between having pimples or having red spots so I convinced myself that the spots would leave eventually and continued using the toothpaste. It ended in tears.”
